'Out of touch' Rishi Sunak blasted for £1,000 Rwanda bet with Piers Morgan
Rishi Sunak has been branded "out of touch" for agreeing to a £1,000 bet on whether deportation flights to Rwanda will get going before the election.
The Prime Minister shook on the wager after being challenged by Piers Morgan over his crisis-hit plan to ship some asylum seekers to the African country. The flagship Tory pledge has been beset by legal challenges - and Mr Sunak recently refused to guarantee that flights would take off before Britain goes to the polls this year.
The Government is trying to force legislation through Parliament to declare Rwanda a safe country after the scheme was found to be unlawful by the Supreme Court in November. In an interview with Piers Morgan's Uncensored programme, Mr Sunak was challenged on whether the plan was in tatters.
Piers Morgan challenged the PM to bet £1,000 on his Rwanda deportations scheme (PA)The TalkTV host told the Prime Minister: “I'll bet you £1,000 pounds to a refugee charity, you don't get anybody on those planes before the election. Will you take that bet?”
Mr Sunak appeared to accept the bet by shaking hands, telling him: “Well, I want to get the people on the planes, right? Of course, I want to get the people on the plane… Right? I am working incredibly hard to get the people on the planes.”
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The exchange triggered outrage, with Shadow Paymaster General Jonathan Ashworth saying: “Not a lot of people facing rising mortgages, bills and food prices are casually dropping £1,000 bets. It just shows that Rishi Sunak is totally out of touch with working people.”
Shadow Immigration Minister Stephen Kinnock tweeted: "Probably the least Prime Ministerial thing I've seen in 9 years in Parliament. Deeply distasteful. A Prime Minister splashing his cash around like it's monopoly money - betting on a policy that he has lost control over."
SNP Cabinet Office spokesperson Kirsty Blackman said: "Placing a bet on the lives of vulnerable refugees fleeing war and persecution is grotesque, callous and downright cruel - and shows just how out of touch Westminster is with the values of people in Scotland.
"It's particularly shameful that Rishi Sunak, one of the richest men in the UK, thinks it's appropriate to accept a £1,000 wager - and will remind ordinary working families that near billionaire Sunak doesn't have a clue what life is like for the rest of us in a cost of living crisis."
The party has written to civil service chief Simon Case and Sir Laurie Magnus, the PM's Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests, to question whether Mr Sunak had breached the ministerial code.
Asked about the bet, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said he “had not had a chance to talk to [Mr Sunak]” about it. He said: “I think what the Prime Minister is saying and what was clear coming through from that interview is the Prime Minister's absolute confidence that we'll get flights off the ground and obviously his conviction that it's important that we get the bill passed.”
Asked whether he thought the PM was setting a good example, given the Government’s clampdown on gambling, he said: “I think he’s focused on doing what is needed to deliver on priorities for the British people and I think what that clip demonstrates is his conviction that the bill that is in front of the House of Lords will do the job and get flights off to Rwanda as quick as possible.”
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